09 November 2010

Shutter Games

After studying aperture in action, I wanted to play with shutter spped, but it took me a while to find the right moment. And then wouldn't ya know it, I didn't have my tripod. But we were at the park, and it was beautiful, and Monkey's orange hoodie was awesome against the late fall colors, so I ran with it.



Lesson #1: Bring the tripod. I'm considering tossing mine in the trunk on a semi-permanent basis. I sure wished I had it today! Not for everything, but it would have been nice for some.

Lesson #2: Mind the exposure. My camera tells me if the exposure is "right," but today it was telling lies, and a bunch of them are overexposed. Doesn't seem to have that problem with underexposing.

1/20th of a second. Just a touch of blur on Monkey, not too bad holding things steady. Exposure's not too shabby either, even though I hadn't realized the camera was telling stories just yet.




1/15th of a second. Composition's crummy. Swing pictures are SO difficult to compose! But there's potential, if I crop it right. Presuming that I can figure out how to make it look artistically blurry, rather than just out of focus.




1/8th second. In addition to the relatively long shutter speed, I was also moving the camera, tracking Monkey's movement. This one I just love so much about... but it's way overexposed. I'm going to try to photoshop it to correct that. Not the point of the exercise, but I want this picture!


Following motion works at quicker shutter speeds too (1/25), but it's not so dramatic. However, it's easier to get the subject in focus. And I like the shallow depth of field effect, where his feet are blurrier than his face. Of course, that's probably more that he was moving them right then, and less the photography.

Lesson #3: Angle makes a difference in the lens's perception of movement. These were both taken at 1/40th of a second, but there's a lot more blur in the one taken from the side. Though composition is much easier from the front.






Lesson #4: Freezing action will make it look inactive if it's not done right.


I like this one. It's at a pretty quick shutter: 1/30th. I like the tilted horizon. Composition is ok, though not anything special. Monkey's looking happy. But the sense of the moving swing is almost gone.

Gratuitous Cuteness: